


Something Wicked

by PitViperOfDoom



Category: Mystery Skulls (Band), Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Monsters, Protective Older Brothers, Shtriga, Witches, and you will have no one to blame but yourself, boogeymen, seriously don't threaten Lewis's sisters, who just so happen to be skeleton ghosts, you will die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-08 23:49:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6880537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PitViperOfDoom/pseuds/PitViperOfDoom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are evil things in the world, things that hide in the shadows and prey on little children who stray from their mothers' arms. For as long as there has been fear and darkness, there have been monsters and witches and things that go bump in the night. </p>
<p>There's about to be fewer of them. It's their own fault, really; they should have known better than to choose the Pepper sisters as prey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Vivi stood holding the phone to her ear long after the caller hung up. For once in her life, her mind was utterly silent and blank, devoid of ideas. In a few moments the emotions would kick back into gear, and she would fall into fear and uncertainty and maybe even panic, but for now she could stew in the numbness.

The dial tone rang in her ear, but she barely noticed. She felt like the world was cracking further around her – it had been broken for a long time, and here it was crumbling even more before it had the chance to knit itself back together.

_Only a few weeks,_ she thought. _It's too soon._

The first feeling that broke through her daze was frustration with herself. Of course it was too soon. If it happened twenty years from now it would be too soon, for the simple reason that it should never have happened at all. _Too soon,_ what a stupid, pointless thought. As if things like these cared about timing and convenience.

Her frustration was like a crack in the dam, and it didn't take long for the whole thing to come crashing down. She swayed in place, overwhelmed as a myriad of feelings washed over her like a high tide. There was shock and doubt and dismay and _fear,_ so much fear, though not for herself. If she had only feared for herself, this wouldn't be such a problem.

Vivi either put the phone back on the charging station or tossed it willy-nilly on the table; at this point she wasn't paying attention to what her hands were doing. Numb with dread, she wandered into the living room where Arthur and Lewis were sitting, talking while Mystery lounged on the couch beside them. Their 'good morning's fell on deaf ears. Without pausing, or even breaking stride, Vivi walked in, seized Arthur by the elbow, and pulled him to his feet. She mumbled some kind of excuse and ended it with “Just need to talk about something, I'll give him back later,” before towing Arthur into another room and shutting the door.

Truthfully, Lewis could have followed them, phased through the door, and involved himself, but he wouldn't. He wouldn't even eavesdrop. He was polite like that, and Vivi had never been more grateful.

“Vivi, what's going on?” Arthur wasn't afraid yet, or even worried. Just mildly bewildered. Well, that was going to change.

“Got a call,” Vivi choked out.

_Now_ he was worried. “From who? Vivi, is everything okay?”

“No.” Somehow she managed to maintain eye contact with him. “Everything isn't okay. Nothing's okay. Mrs. Pepper called.”

Arthur blinked, and his face changed. Mild confusion and worry turned into something approaching dread. “What did she say?”

At first, the words wouldn't come. Vivi's eyes flickered toward the door. At the moment her worst nightmare was for Lewis to be standing there, listening in, and for him to hear this before she had pieced together a way to tell him. Her voice got stuck in her throat, and for a moment she wondered if Arthur would believe her if she told him it was nothing after all. But she steeled herself, took a deep breath, and let it out.

“Paprika's sick.”

Arthur paled instantly. “Sick how?” He lowered his voice, shooting a fearful look of his own at the door. “Are we talking... like, the flu? Bad fever? Or...?”

“I mean she won't wake up, Arthur.” Vivi's eyes burned with held-back tears. “She's unconscious, and she's in the hospital with her dad, right now.” The words tasted like vomit in her mouth. “What do we tell him, Arthur? _How_ are we going to tell him? He's only been with us a few weeks – he should've had more time than this before he...” Her voice trailed off.

“We have to.” Arthur looked sick as he said it, but it was true and she knew it was true. “We have to. He'll never forgive us if we don't, and besides – Vi, he has to know, it's...” His voice trailed off.

“You're right.” Vivi nodded. “You're right, you're right, I know. I just...” Her eyes were wide with dismay. “Arthur, he said he's not ready. And if he comes back to them now, the way he is – God, it's going to open old wounds, it's going to be painful and confusing and-”

The phone rang. Vivi jumped, whipping around to stare at it. With a fearful glance at Arthur, she went to answer it.

“Hello?”

The other end was silent for a moment. Then – “Is Vivi there?” A high, raspy voice – a child's voice.

“Cayenne?” Vivi met Arthur's eyes again, seeing surprise register on his face. “Cayenne, it's Vivi. Your mom just called, are you all right?”

“She told you, right?” The hesitation in Cayenne's voice was not doing Vivi's nerves any favors. Little Cayenne Pepper was many things, and “hesitant” had never been one of them. “About Paprika?”

“Y-yes.” Vivi fought to keep her voice steady. “Sweetie listen, we're... Arthur and I are going to come over later, just to check on you all, and-”

“Good,” Cayenne broke in. “Good. You need to come over.”

“Why?” Vivi asked, frowning in confusion.

“You deal with weird stuff, right?” Cayenne said. “Spooky stuff. Monsters and ghosts and vampires. You believe in that stuff.”

“Yyyes...” Vivi drew the word out cautiously, conscious of a heavy pit in her stomach.

“I didn't tell Mom and Dad yet,” the girl went on. “I told Belle but she didn't believe me. She said I dreamed it.”

“Dreamed what?” Her palms were sweaty against the phone by now. “Cayenne, what's wrong?”

“I saw it,” Cayenne said, in a hushed voice. “I mean I didn't _see it_ see it, but I was awake. It was a monster. A monster hurt my sister and made her sick and I need your help-” She broke off. “Mom's calling me. I gotta go. We're going to meet Dad at the hospital. Come quick, okay?” She hung up.

“What'd she say?” Arthur asked, the moment Vivi put the phone down. “Vivi?”

For a few moments, Vivi let herself ignore him. But no more than a few. With an abruptness that probably startled him, she turned on her heel and pulled him out of the room by his elbow again. “C'mon. We're ripping this band-aid off and we're doing it now and I don't think I have it in me to talk about this twice.”

Her resolve sputtered as they returned to the living room. Lewis was still sitting on the couch, petting and chatting with Mystery, without a care in the world. He looked... content. He looked _okay_ , and that was so far above how he had looked just weeks before. And here she was, about to rip that out from under him.

Lewis's unsuspecting eyes turned to them, still black and bright purple but still calm and serene and full of mild curiosity. He blinked, and Vivi's heart twisted when she saw his contentment fade to make way for worry.

“Something wrong?”

“Yes,” Vivi said bluntly, hating herself when Lewis's face fell. Mystery raised his head, ears pricked as he picked up on her troubled mood. Wringing her hands, she ignored the pain in her heart and forged ahead. “Lewis, remember how you said you wanted to wait a little before you saw your family again?”

Lewis blinked again, and confusion swam in his eyes. “Y-yes...” he said hesitantly. “Just until I was sure I was... well, stable. I didn't want to risk – I mean, me being sort of a poltergeist, and... with the girls... you said it was a good idea, didn't you?”

“I don't know how to tell you this,” she admitted. Her voice cracked when the ominous pain rose in her throat, the ache that told her that tears were coming. “There's no good way. Paprika's sick, she's in the hospital-” Lewis was on his feet. There was no movement, no getting up, just one moment he was sitting and the next he was standing, and his illusion of flesh was gone. “Your parents don't know what's wrong, it came out of nowhere, but Cayenne told me... she thinks it might have been supernatural.” The sharp intake of breath was from Arthur, but Vivi kept her eyes on Lewis. “And we need to go over there. Now.”

“ **Oh God...** ” Lewis's voice reverberated as he spoke, the way it always did when he took this form – a bleached white skull for a face, with flickering eyes like candle flames and purple fire that took the shape of hair. “ **When did this happen?** ”

“They're not sure.” Vivi stepped forward carefully. “Your dad said she was fine last night, but this morning they couldn't get her to wake up. Cayenne says she saw... something. We'll have to ask her more later.”

“ **I never should have waited.** ” The flames in his hair blazed. “ **What was I** _ **thinking**_ **, putting this off? If anything happens to her, I'll-** ” Every magazine on the coffee table burst into flame, as did half the sofa and a section of carpet two feet from where Vivi was standing. Arthur started, Vivi sidestepped hurriedly, and Mystery sprang to his paws. Lewis stopped short to rein himself in. The fire died, but nothing was left on the table but a layer of ash. The carpet had burned down to the backing, and one of the couch cushions was half-gone. “ **Damn it, damn it...** ”

“Lewis, listen to me.” Vivi stepped closer, taking his shaking hands in hers. “We have to go. Even if Cayenne's wrong, we have to see them. I need to know if you're ready-”

“ _ **No**_ **.** ” Lewis's eyes fixed on her pleadingly. “ **Not yet. This is the worst time.** ”

“But Lewis-”

“ **Don't you understand?** ” Lewis said. “ **If I come back now – like** _ **this**_ **– they'll be distracted. Confused. They'll be worried enough with Paprika sick, but if I pick now to come back... if they find out I'm dead...** ” Tears gathered in his eye sockets, but didn't quite spill over. “ **They need to focus on her. Whatever this is, she's the priority. Not me. Do you understand me, Vivi?** ”

She ground her teeth. “It doesn't feel right, Lewis. Hiding this from them.”

“ **It doesn't matter.** ” Lewis shook his head firmly. “ **I'm not going anywhere. I can wait. Paprika can't. So whatever this is, you focus on** _ **her**_ **, do you hear me? And if it turns out something hurt her, then help me destroy it and** _ **save her**_ **before you even think about me.** ” He squeezed her hands gently, and with a visible effort he restored his human appearance. “I'll be with you every step of the way. But I can't show myself to them. Not now.”

Her mouth twisted. “I... don't agree with you. I think now more than ever they'll _need_ you, Lewis. I don't like hiding this from them.” She paused, seeing the desperate pleading written on his face. “But... it's your family. Your decision. I'll respect that.”

“Thank you.” He seemed to relax, and that made her feel a little better about it.

A faint jingling noise brought them back to the present. Arthur had retrieved his keys and was standing by the door with Mystery at his feet. “We can finish talking stuff out on the road, right?” Arthur said. “I mean we gotta go, and-”

Lewis was already gone.

Heaving a sigh, Vivi followed Arthur and Mystery out the door. “Something tells me he'll meet us there. That's if we catch sight of him.” She paused. “Wait, he messes with electronics when he's upset. He'll stay away from the hospital – I think he'll go home instead.”

Arthur nodded. “I can get us there fast. Just tell me what you think we might be up against.”

“Too early to tell,” she sighed as they got in the van. “Cayenne just said 'monster', and she also said she didn't see it very well.”

“If Cayenne is correct, we still have time,” Mystery spoke up quietly from between them. “Whatever it was, it didn't take her. And that means we can still protect her while we find out what's wrong. Could Cayenne give a description?”

“I'm not sure – she hung up when Mrs. Pepper called her.” Just saying the name made her face crumple. As the van pulled out into the street and sped along toward the Peppers' home, she finally gave up on containing her fears. “Arthur?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think we should tell them?”

Briefly he turned to stare at her, before focusing on the road again. “I think Lewis was pretty clear on that, Vivi.”

“This is going to bug me, Arthur.” Understatement of the year. Understatement of the _decade_. “Lewis is still missing to them. They still don't know he's dead. They still don't know he's _here_. And now that Paprika's sick, it's just one unresolved crisis on top of another. Wouldn't it help to resolve one?”

“I sort of get where Lewis is coming from,” Arthur replied. “Whatever his family does or doesn't know, Paprika's crisis is more urgent than his. It's more immediate. She's the one who's in trouble. Lew's just waiting until he's absolutely sure his head's on straight. And right now, with his youngest sister in the hospital? I don't think his head's on straight.”

“They need him,” Vivi muttered.

“And they have him,” Arthur pointed out. “They just don't know it.” He must have heard her frustrated hum. “I get it, Vivi, but what if Lewis is right? I mean they're already panicking over Paprika. Would it help them at all to find out that the son they've been waiting to come home has been dead this entire time?”

“But he's still _here._ ” Vivi's eyes were pained. She must have sounded so whiny, but she was past caring. “It's his family, Arthur.”

“He is,” Arthur agreed. “And it is. And he's decided to hold off on telling them. At least for now, I think we can afford to go along with it.”

“I hate hiding this from them,” Vivi whispered. Mystery rested his chin on her leg, and she stroked his head distractedly.

Arthur didn't take his eyes off the road, but his hand still found hers. “I know. Me too, Vivi.”

* * *

To their surprise, Mr. Pepper who met them at the door. He looked thinner than usual, haggard, and his pink and white hair was unkempt. Vivi was closest, so she was the first one he hugged. Arthur stood back, heart aching with sympathy, until Lewis's father released her and pulled Arthur into a hug next. They hadn't even opened the Paradiso today and Arthur could still smell kitchen spices on him.

“Thank you for coming,” Mr. Pepper sighed, stooping to pet Mystery. The dog whined and licked his hand. “You didn't have to-”

“Of course we did,” Vivi told him gently. “We dropped everything as soon as we heard.”

Raw gratitude shone in Mr. Pepper's eyes. “You've done so much already, especially with... with...” He shook his head, and Arthur could almost feel the anguish roiling off of Vivi in waves. Reaching over, he gave her hand a surreptitious squeeze. “Sorry, where are my manners – please, come in.”

They stepped inside, and Mr. Pepper shut the door behind them. Arthur fidgeted uncomfortably in the front room. He had never walked through that door and not heard the sounds of the girls playing, even after Lewis's “disappearance.” The silence was unnatural, and it set him on edge.

“The girls are at the hospital with their mother,” Mr. Pepper explained. “She forgot her phone, and I didn't know that until I had already left. Cayenne wanted to come home with me, but...” He wrung his hands. “I didn't want her to be around if I... well... you see, I decided to come back, to see if I could find any clue to what caused this.” He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up further. “I don't even know what I'm looking for. Maybe she got into something, ate something she shouldn't have, maybe she was bitten by something – I just don't _know_ -”

“I'll help,” Arthur offered. “Two sets of eyes are better than one. And maybe Mystery can sniff something out.”

“Would it be all right if I stopped by the hospital?” Vivi asked. “I could bring them the phone, check on your family, get back to you. Maybe the doctors will have found something that can narrow it down for you.”

Mr. Pepper looked ready to burst into tears, if he hadn't looked that way already. “I... really don't know what we did, to deserve friends like you,” he said in a small voice. “Whatever it was, it must have been something good.”

Vivi gave him another hug. “We'll help in any way we can,” Arthur heard her whisper. “I promise.”

He gave her the keys, Mr. Pepper gave her the phone, and she left without another word. Maybe she didn't trust herself enough to say anything.

Mystery, in the meantime, was already headed to the stairs. “Mind if we check in their room?” Arthur asked.

“Yes, of course,” Mr. Pepper said distractedly. “It was the first place I looked, but maybe you'll notice something I didn't.”

Arthur climbed the stairs and followed Mystery down the hall. He knew the way by heart; he'd visited and helped Lewis wrangle the girls enough times in the past. Mystery knew his way around as well, and shouldered open the second door from the end. Lost in thought, Arthur followed him in.

He sprang back, biting his lip to keep from yelping in shock. Lewis stood in the center of the room, hands at his sides, neither moving nor speaking. He was caught somewhere between his two forms – he looked human for the most part, but he still wore the jet-black suit, and his hair flickered and darted at the edges where hair stopped and purple flames began. Mystery sat at his feet, leaning lightly against his leg.

Arthur couldn't see his face from behind, but Lewis looked so lost. Heaving a sigh, he stepped further into the room. “H-hey,” he greeted quietly, not wanting to alert Mr. Pepper. “So, uh... find anything?”

He counted twenty seconds before Lewis answered – for a moment he thought Lewis still hadn't even noticed he was there.

“No,” Lewis said quietly. His voice didn't have the booming echo of power that it usually had when he went full poltergeist, so at least he was still in control. Even so, Lewis's words whispered in Arthur's ears in a way that sounded less like a human voice and more like a breeze in a graveyard. “To be honest, I haven't really looked.”

Quietly, Arthur stepped forward to stand with him. His friend's face was like stone, his dark eyes unreadable as he stared at the room around him. It looked the way any room shared by two little girls would look – full of pastel colors and plushes and shelves of books, two little desks covered in drawings and an unfinished jigsaw puzzle. Posters on the wall for animals and cartoons. Grade school crafts, like the paper-and-yarn dreamcatcher that hung over Cayenne's bed. The hanging rug that held Paprika's button collection. She'd gotten more since the last time Arthur had seen it.

Arthur watched him, shifting quietly from foot to foot. “Is this... the first time since-?”

“Yes,” Lewis whispered.

There wasn't much Arthur could say, so he simply leaned to the right and pressed briefly against Lewis's side. Lewis sighed, and appeared to shake himself. Without moving his feet, he drifted around the room to search. It was a smart move, Arthur realized – with Mr. Pepper on the floor beneath them, he might be alerted by two sets of footsteps.

Arthur made his way around the room, picking things up and putting them back down, before walking over to Paprika's unmade bed. There was nothing out of the ordinary that he could see. “Mystery? Are you noticing anything?”

“Hard to say,” the dog replied. His head turned this way and that, ears swiveling as he sniffed. “I'm noticing a lot, I just need to separate it all out between what's Lewis and what's unfamiliar.” He paced, nose to the ground, and scented around. “It doesn't help that I don't know what I'm looking for – this could be the work of magic, or it could simply be a spider bite.”

“I'll look somewhere else,” Lewis offered. “Maybe if I leave the room, you'll find something.”

“Thank you,” Mystery said gently, and the ghost vanished.

Arthur lowered himself to his hands and knees to peer beneath Paprika's bed. “Anything?”

“I... possibly...” Mystery padded this way and that, still searching. “I'm scenting a trace of something magical, but it may be nothing.”

“I'm pretty sure it's not nothing if it's magical,” Arthur told him dryly. Nothing under the bed but darkness and dust bunnies. He sneezed.

“Nonsense. Little Folk pass through human dwellings plenty of times.” Mystery paused, shaking his head. “This isn't the smell of Little Folk, though. It's faint, that's the problem. It could be any number of things...” He sniffed at Paprika's quilt and shook his head, discouraged. “Stars and stones, this is frustrating.”

Arthur got up with a sigh and cast about for where else to start looking. “Maybe it'll turn out to be a bug she caught from a night breeze or something.” He looked to the window. “Window's closed, but maybe there's a draft?” He wandered over, not expecting to find anything, and tried it. To his surprise, it opened easily. “Not locked, though. Isn't this window usually locked?”

“It's summer,” Mystery pointed out. “They could have had it open to let in a breeze.”

“True.” Arthur bent forward, braced his hands on the sill for balance, and poked his head out the open window. He felt abominably useless. They needed information, and until Vivi got back to them, they were stuck wandering around like headless chickens, searching the place when they didn't even know what they were looking for. He looked left, then right.

Arthur stood up straight so fast he banged his head against the bottom edge of the window. Yelping, either in surprise or in pain, he shoved himself back in the room with enough force to send him staggering back.

He was still rubbing his sore head when hurried footsteps alerted him to Mr. Pepper's approach. “Are you all right?” Mr. Pepper asked. “I heard a bump and a yell-”

Instead of answering, Arthur staggered forward and leaned outside again. Twisting to the right, he stared speechlessly at his discovery.

On the outside of the house, not two inches to the left of the girls' second-floor bedroom window, a handprint was blackened into the wood.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Mrs. Pepper's hugs could crush bones. Luckily for Vivi, she was in a gentle mood.

“You didn't have to come,” Lewis's mother whispered by her ear before releasing her.

Vivi passed her the phone. “Had to bring this. Your husband said you left it.” She looked past her, heart sinking. They were in the children's ward of the hospital, a spacious room that held a row of little beds separated by brightly-colored curtains. There were many other parents there for their children, and Mrs. Pepper had drawn her away for some semblance of privacy. The girls were sitting by Paprika's bed – Belle leaned on the mattress with her arms were pillowed beneath her head and watched her unconscious sister. Cayenne sat in a kid-sized chair nearby, feet swinging a little. Every now and then, Vivi noticed, she would shoot a glance in their direction.

“Thank you.” Mrs. Pepper took the phone. “Is Arthur with him?”

“Yes,” Vivi replied. “He decided to stay and help him look for anything that might have caused this.” She looked to Paprika again, and her heart broke at the sight of the too-little bundle curled up beneath the blanket. “Have the doctors figured out what's wrong with her?”

“No.” Mrs. Pepper shook her head, brow furrowed. “They're still running tests, but they didn't seem hopeful about finding anything.” She crossed her arms, hiding the way her hands curled and uncurled. “I don't understand it. She was perfectly fine last night. I went through three storybooks before I could get her to sleep. And then earlier this morning...” She shut her eyes. “Cayenne came in and told me she couldn't wake her up.”

Vivi knew how useless empty words and platitudes were, but she was going to go mad if she didn't fill the silence with something. “I'm sorry.”

“ _Don't_ say that.” Mrs. Pepper's voice was hard as stone, and Vivi felt her blood run cold.

“S-sorry – I mean-”

The woman seemed to pull herself back. Her shoulders hitched as she took a deep breath. “No, no, it's all right – not your fault. It's just...” Something flickered across her impassive face, the briefest flash of pain. “I've been hearing those words too often. Ever since...” Her voice trailed off. Her throat bobbed a little as she swallowed. “How... how has your search been going?”

If her blood had been chilled before, it was now ice water in her veins. “It's... been going,” she said. “If we find anything, you'll... you'll be the first person we call.” Terror gripped her. For a moment she was certain that Mrs. Pepper – fierce, eagle-eyed Mrs. Pepper who missed nothing when it came to the safety of her children – would see through her half-truth.

But Lewis's mother watched her with kind eyes. “Thank you. I know it must be difficult for you, too.” She paused. “I'm... glad you can remember him again.”

Tears pricked at Vivi's eyes, and she let them well up – she couldn't have fought them if she tried. “I-I am too,” she said. “My memories of him are precious, and... I wouldn't give them up for the world.” Hastily she wiped her eyes. “Paprika's going to be fine. She's always been a strong, healthy little girl. She'll pull through.”

“I know she will,” Mrs. Pepper said quietly. A doctor approached, and she clasped Vivi's shoulder. “Excuse me.”

As Mrs. Pepper went to speak to the doctor, Vivi quickly got a hold of herself once more. She was fine. She could do this – for Lewis. She was doing this for Lewis. She just had to remember that. Briskly she made her way back to where Paprika lay. Belle raised her head as she approached, and Cayenne never took her eyes off of her.

“Hi, Vivi,” Belle said in a small voice.

“Hi, girls.” Vivi gave Belle's shoulder a light squeeze. “How're you holding up?”

“Okay,” Belle answered. “I don't think the doctors know what's wrong.”

“These things take time,” Vivi told her gently. “They're still looking. I'm sure they'll find something.”

Belle nodded and lowered her head back into her arms. Vivi patted her again, with a worried look at Paprika's sleeping face. Her heart twisted again. Paprika was so full of life, a little sunbeam of a child, and it was unnatural to see her so still.

Small hands closed around hers. Vivi turned and looked down. Cayenne had gotten up from her chair and was clutching at her hand, watching her from behind her bangs. Wordlessly, Cayenne tugged at her.

Vivi nodded. Taking the girl's hand properly, she led her toward the wide double doors that led out into the hallway. They passed bed after bed, and Vivi noted absently that many of them were occupied. There were a lot of parents here, as well. Not all of them had the frantic, confused look about them that Mr. Pepper had. Some of them looked... resigned. Tired, even. Vivi forced down her dread – the Peppers wouldn't have to be the same way. It didn't have to come to that.

Mrs. Pepper was still speaking to the doctor, and looked up in confusion as they passed. “Is it all right if I let her pick out a candy bar from the machines?” Vivi asked. Mrs. Pepper's eyes softened, and she nodded.

Out in the hallway, Vivi spotted a vending machine and a pair of chairs nearby. “I'll buy you something,” she offered, leading the girl over. “I already told your mom I would.”

“I'll have a Twix,” Cayenne said. “Vivi, I know I saw it.”

Vivi slipped a dollar bill into the machine and punched in the appropriate number. “And I believe you.” Giving the candy to Cayenne, she sat down in one chair and patted the one next to it. “Tell me what you saw.”

Without opening the candy bar, Cayenne went to sit next to her. Her feet swung again, and she gripped the edges of the seat. “It was really late. Really dark. I don't know why I woke up but I did. I think it was noises outside? I can't sleep when the window's open, and I remember thinking it was weird 'cause the window was open and I could hear cars, but it was closed when I went to bed. Mom and Dad don't open it, and Paprika's too little, and Belle has her own room.” Slowly, her feet stilled. “There was something in the room with us. It was big and dark. It looked like it was covered up in a raggy old blanket. Or maybe a cloak. And it-” She paused, and Vivi saw her grip the chair until her knuckles were white. “It was by Paprika's bed. And it stood up, like... like it was bent over. Like it was talking to her, or... I dunno. And then it went to the window, and I blinked, and it was gone and the window was shut.” Cayenne turned her face upward again, staring at Vivi. “I thought I was just dreaming. I went back to sleep.”

Vivi heard the note in Cayenne's voice and recognized it. It was easy to identify it – she'd been hearing it plenty from Arthur, and from Lewis, and even from Mystery once in a while. If she was hearing it from Cayenne, then it was best to nip it in the bud if she could. “Cayenne,” she said, trying to make her voice sound gentle and firm at the same time. “This wasn't your fault.”

“There was something in our room,” Cayenne insisted, still gripping the chair. “I didn't do anything. I didn't yell for Mom and Dad. I _went back to sleep._ ” She looked away, fixing her attention on the floor. “And now she won't wake up, and-”

Vivi hugged her. The unopened Twix bar slid to the floor as Cayenne turned and hugged her back. She heard a sniffle, and Cayenne squirmed in her arms but didn't let go. “I promise you, Cayenne,” Vivi whispered. “None of this is your fault. You couldn't have known. And maybe, if you'd tried to stop it, it would have hurt you too.”

“I don't want her to die,” Cayenne said. “I don't want her to disappear like Lewis.”

Vivi's eyes blurred with tears. “She's not going to die,” she whispered. “She is _not_ going to die.”

She felt drained as they returned to the ward. Cayenne darted over to share the Twix bar with Belle, and Vivi placed herself out of everyone's way and tried to collect herself. Sniffling, she fished her phone out of her pocket – she at least ought to call Arthur and tell him what she found.

_3 Missed Calls._

She could have smacked herself. She had the stupid thing on silent again, how could she have been so careless? Quickly she called Arthur back, keeping an eye on Mrs. Pepper to make sure she wasn't in earshot.

“ _Vi! I've been trying to get a hold of you._ ”

“Sorry about that.” Vivi rubbed her eyes, drying away the last of the tears. “Listen, I just talked to Cayenne. I'm at least ninety percent sure this is supernatural in origin, and-”

“ _Oh, good!_ ” Vivi blinked, frowning in confusion. Even over the phone, Arthur's tone sounded strange, and she recognized the way his voice crept up in pitch when he was particularly nervous. “ _That's good! Because I'm about a hundred percent sure. I'm sending you a picture._ ”

Her phone chimed, and at least two parents looked over and frowned. Whispering an apology, Vivi backed out into the hallway and looked down at the screen.

Her heart plummeted.

Arthur must have leaned out the window to take this. Scorched into the wood, just to the left of the open window, was a hand print.

It wasn't a human hand print, though. It wasn't even just a print; the shape of the hand formed a depression, as if it had burned away the wood that it touched. The fingers were too long and spindly to be human, its palm to proportionally small and narrow. The imprints of the fingers were pointed at the ends, as if tipped with claws.

Vivi returned the phone to her ear and cupped her hand over her mouth as she hissed, “Arthur. _What. The hell_.”

“ _I was hoping you'd know! That thing's right outside the girls' window!_ ”

Yeah, that wasn't doing her heart rate any favors. “Jesus Christ. Jesus _Christ._ Did Mr. Pepper see it?”

“ _Y-yeah. He's pretty freaked out. Muttered something about raccoons, and yeah I_ guess _it kind of looks like a raccoon track, if the raccoon was the size of of a St. Bernard, but-_ ”

“Is he there right now?” Vivi asked. “Can he hear me?”

“ _No, I stepped out to call you_.”

Vivi checked her peripherals. “Where's Lewis? Is he okay?”

“ _I-I don't know,_ ” Arthur told her. _“He was here earlier, but we split up and I haven't seen him since. I don't even know for sure if he's seen it yet. Mystery went to go find him, but..._ ”

“Okay.” Vivi massaged her forehead. “Okay. I'm coming back. We can compare notes. My phone's not on silent anymore, so call me if you find him.” She hung up, rubbing her forehead to ward off a headache. Steeling herself, she went back in to say goodbye to Mrs. Pepper and the girls.

She stopped.

How many families _were_ there in here?

Vivi cast about briefly and found a nurse standing nearby watching the proceedings. She didn't look too busy, so Vivi saw her chance and took it. “Excuse me,” she said softly, approaching the woman. “Is the children's ward usually this full?”

“No.” Worry lines ran deep in the woman's face. “There's a sickness going around, looks like.”

“What kind of sickness?” It didn't take much effort or exaggeration to play up her worry. Vivi kept her eyes wide, arranging her face into a look of innocent, anxious confusion. Playing the troubled, concerned citizen was a quick and easy way to fish for information. “How long has this been going on? Should we be worried?”

“It only seems to affect children,” the nurse assured her. “The first case was last Monday. There's no clear cause, and it's as if their immune systems have just... shut down. They fall asleep and slip into unconsciousness.”

“Has anyone...?”

“No fatalities,” the nurse assured her, and Vivi breathed a sigh of relief. “Are you a family member?”

Vivi chewed at her lip. “Somewhat. My... my boyfriend's sister just came in.”

“I'm sorry. There's not much more I can tell you.” The nurse moved off, leaving Vivi in a slight daze as she processed what she had just heard.

So. It seemed that their problem was somewhat bigger than expected.

She said her goodbyes as quickly as she could, and left the hospital. The drive back to the Peppers' home passed her in a blur, which might have been worrying, but she made it back without incident. Good thing, too – if she scratched the van, Arthur would probably fret for weeks before he let her drive it again. The tires screeched a little when she pulled up by the house, and she headed for the door at a run.

The door was unlocked, and Arthur was there waiting for her. “Show me,” she said before he had the chance to speak, and he beckoned her up the stairs.

Mr. Pepper was waiting in Paprika and Cayenne's room, leaning out the window. Vivi could hear him fretting as she entered. She had seen no sign of Mystery or Lewis since arriving, which worried her, but she put it out of her mind for the moment.

“-just don't know what could have done this,” Mr. Pepper was muttering, prodding at something outside the window. “This size – this high up – it just doesn't make _sense_ -”

“Could I have a look?” Vivi offered.

“If you think it will help.” Mr. Pepper backed away from the window. “Excuse me, I need to call my wife about this-” Still muttering thoughtfully, he left the room at a hurried pace.

Carefully Vivi sat on the sill and leaned backward out the open window, letting Arthur hold her arm to steady her while she got a closer look at the hand print.

“So what are we looking at?” Arthur asked. “Another fire ghost, or a demon, or what? The hand shape is too off to be human, but I'm just not sure.”

“Could be some kind of bogeyman,” Vivi mused, squinting at the blackened print. She swiped her finger at it, surprised when it felt soft to the touch. Bits of wood flaked off, and she rubbed them between her thumb and forefinger. “Definitely not a fire ghost.”

“How come?”

Vivi snapped a few more pictures, from as many angles as she dared. “Because this wood isn't burned. It's rotted.”

Arthur groaned. “Great. What does that mean?”

“It means we need to start looking for marks like these on other houses,” she said. “Have you seen Mystery or Lewis?”

“Down here.”

Twisting her neck, Vivi looked down. Her dog sat on the lawn below her, watching her. “Hey, Mystery,” she called down. “Did you find – uh – you-know-who?”

“Van,” Mystery said. “He's calmed down. Was your hospital visit fruitful?”

“We'll see,” she replied. “Be right down.” She pulled herself back into the room by Arthur's arm and stood up, dusting herself off. “C'mon. Let's go down to the van, talk this over. Lew's there waiting.”

Mr. Pepper was too distracted by his phone call to do more than wave to them as they left, which suited Vivi just fine. Pulling Arthur by the hand, she led him out to the van where Mystery sat. Together, the three of them climbed inside.

Lewis was waiting for them in the backseat. He was human-formed, with only the edges of his hair flickering to betray his disquiet.

“Well?” Mystery prompted. “What have you found?”

Vivi leaned her head back against the seat. “Cayenne described a dark, cloaked figure in their room late at night, bent over Paprika. Then this morning, Paprika didn't wake up, and they took her to the hospital, but that's not all.” She twisted around so that all three of the others were in her line of vision. Arthur was wide-eyed, Mystery grim, and Lewis... she wasn't sure what was going on in Lewis's head, but she knew it couldn't have been pretty. “I saw at least five other families in there. Maybe ten kids, maybe more. This has been going on for almost a week now. Kids go to sleep and just... slip into comas. I talked to a nurse, and she said that something was wrong with their immune systems.”

“And then there's this,” Arthur went on, bringing up the picture of the hand print. “Right outside their bedroom window, on the second floor.”

“Whatever it is, it can fly, and it can manifest a physical form,” Vivi said. “Cayenne said it opened the window.”

“She was right there in the room with it...” Lewis whispered, half to himself. He shook his head. “Could a demon do this?”

“It's... possible,” Mystery said hesitantly. “Yes, it could. Whether or not it _would_ is another story.” Mystery grimaced and got up to pace in the backseat. “Demons are interested in taking bodies, attacking targets, and gaining power. There is a method to their madness. They have plans, intentions, _goals_. I don't know of any demon that would put children in comas on a whim. Certainly none that would be so careless as to burn their mark into the window pane.”

“It isn't burned,” Vivi said. “The wood's rotted.”

“Which I guess isn't too weird?” Arthur said. “Destruction and rot and junk is a pretty common M.O. when it comes to these things.”

“Which is a problem because it doesn't narrow it down at all,” Lewis gritted through clenched teeth. His hands were balled into fists in his lap, flickering a faint purple. “We've wasted most of the morning and we _still_ don't know what attacked my sister!”

“Lew, hey, it's gonna be okay,” Arthur told him softly. “We just need a plan.”

Vivi reached back and gently gripped the ghost's wrist. “We're on the right track. We have clues. We just need to form a picture of the thing we're looking for. Here-” Turning around to the front again, she opened the glove compartment and found a notepad and pen. As she scribbled things down, she listed off what they knew. “A cloaked figure. Decaying touch. Flight. Children as victims. Plus the effect of the attacks – weakened immune systems and unconsciousness-”

There was a sharp intake of breath. Mystery froze in place, his spine ramrod-straight, eyes wide, ears erect. “I think – wait a minute.” His stance relaxed, and he circled his position on the upholstery. “Vivi, how many victims did you say there were?”

Vivi frowned, trying to picture the children's ward in her mind. “I don't know for sure, but I'd say at least ten.”

Mystery deflated a little. His tail was short enough to be called a stub, but he still managed to lower it. “...Oh. And how long did the nurse say...?”

“Since Monday, so... today's day six.”

With a sigh, the dog sat down with a plop. “Damnation. I thought I had it, but the timing is all wrong.” He looked up. “We need to go back to the hospital. We still don't have enough information.”

Vivi tapped the pen against her teeth thoughtfully. “Our best bet is to find out more about the other victims,” she said. “If we do that, maybe we can find some kind of connection. The hospital should have that information.”

“It's a good idea, but how?” Arthur reminded them. “To them we'd be just a couple of nosy college-age kids and a dog. We're not even really family members – except you, Lewis.”

Lewis's expression was dark, even without taking his eyes into account. “I... don't think I can trust myself with hospital equipment.”

“How are we supposed to find anything out, then?” Arthur asked.

“Socialize,” Mystery said bluntly. “There will be several other families there, frantic and worried and, perhaps, liable to vent their troubles to kind souls offering a sympathetic ear. Find out what the other children's families know.” He pawed his muzzle thoughtfully. “Invisibility should do the trick for me, and... Lewis, once we get to the hospital, could you help me with something?”

Lewis raised an eyebrow at him. “What did I just say.”

“You wouldn't have to go anywhere near the emergency room.” Mystery assured him. “You'll be far enough away from any vital equipment that you won't risk doing any harm. And even then, I'll be with you the whole time. I can keep your power in check if you can't.”

“O... kay...” Lewis still looked dubious, but he nodded his assent. “If it helps us find whatever hurt Paprika, I'll do whatever you need.”

“We'll sit down and have a talk with your parents once we have some solid information and a solid plan,” Vivi told him. At his alarmed look, she held up her hand. “Not about you. For now we'll leave you out of it. But we can't afford to leave them out of the loop.”

The ghost still looked troubled. “I never talked about our investigations with them. As far as they know, we're just ghost-hunter hobbyists that poke around creepy places and capture weird noises on video. Dad would've gone into conniptions if I ever mentioned the demons.”

“Making it all the more important that we bring them in now,” Vivi reasoned. “Like it or not, your family's directly involved in this. They have a right to know what we're up against.”

“And if we do get around to actually, y'know, _dealing_ with whatever caused this,” Arthur added with a shudder, “it'd be a lot easier to do that if we didn't have to tiptoe around them to keep it a secret.”

With a sigh, Lewis leaned his forehead against the seat in front of him. “I... never thought about having this discussion with them. And now I'm not even going to be _present_ for it.”

“You could be,” Vivi said cautiously. “It... might make it easier for them to believe. And...” She hesitated, frowning as a new thought occurred to her. “For them to find out about the things we've faced, it's going to raise questions about you already. They might ask if one of these things had to do with what happened to you.”

Lewis heaved a sigh, but didn't raise his head. “I just...” His muffled voice was heavy with weariness. “I just can't, Vivi. I can't. Not yet.”

“It has to happen eventually,” Vivi said quietly, but didn't press the issue.

Arthur said nothing, and started the van.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Jasmine Nguyen had lost count of how many cups of coffee had gone into her body. She wasn't asleep at the moment, but she wasn't sure she would have called herself awake, either. She existed in a fog, observing the world around her but not quite paying attention to any of it. The only thing that felt real to her anymore was her firm grip on Tyler's hand.

The children's ward was a spacious, colorful wing of the hospital, but in her numb, half-awake state it was beginning to close in on her. A new family had come in that morning, and if the pattern continued, there would be more by the next day. It was crowded. So many families, so many other parents suffering as she was.

There were too many people. She needed air. She needed to vent her fears and frustrations to someone who wouldn't reflect them back at her. She bent down to kiss her son's still face, then released his hand and all but fled into the hallway.

Two steps out of the doorway, she almost walked right into someone. The near-collision brought her further into the present, breaking through her half-awake daze as if her ears had popped.

“Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry,” she sputtered.

“It's okay.” It was a young man, maybe ten years her junior, with blonde hair in one of those outrageous overly-gelled styles. He smiled wearily at her, rubbing his arm.

His _metal_ arm.

Caught off guard, she couldn't help but gape for a moment before she got a hold of herself again. The young man noticed, but didn't seem offended by her stare. Embarrassed, but not offended.

“Sorry,” Jasmine said quickly, sidestepping away from the doorway. “I'll get out of your way.”

“It's okay.” His grin was lopsided, and it made the dark circles under his eyes stand out. “I'm not sure how much use I'll be in there, anyway.”

“Oh...” Something about his smile, his tired eyes, and the rueful way he looked through the doorway made her want to sit him down and wrap a blanket around his shoulders. “Are you here for your family, or...?” He looked fresh out of college – too young to have children of his own, surely.

“S-sort of.” His smile faded. “I'm sort of a family friend. I don't know what I thought I'd be able to do. Moral support, I guess. My best friend's sister just came in.” He paused, his face sympathetic as he briefly met her eyes. “Do you know what's going on?”

Jasmine's face fell. “I've been here since Tuesday. My son, Tyler... I can't explain it. He was fine, not even a sniffle, and then that morning, I went to wake him up, and... he wouldn't. The doctors say he's in a coma. I don't understand it – these things can't just happen overnight! The window was closed, everything was the way it was when I tucked him in, but...”

“That's what happened to Paprika too,” the young man fretted.

“Did she just come in?” Jasmine asked softly. He nodded. “Only one new family today.”

“There are usually more?” He looked aghast. Poor thing. Jasmine remembered when she'd had the energy to be appalled.

“Never more than two,” she said, as if that was an assurance. “Another set of parents came in the same day I did, and two came in on Friday, I think.”

“How many kids is that?” he half-whispered, gazing despondently into the children's ward.

“Never more than one per family, thank heavens,” Jasmine sighed. “Except... oh dear.”

“What?”

She nodded toward one of the other beds, where a pair of fathers hovered. One of them paced anxiously. The other seemed to be conversing with a woman dressed in blue. “That couple there, the two fathers, they came in yesterday. But I think they have two kids here-” Her voice broke. “Excuse me, I need to...” Whatever excuse she gave, it fled from her the moment it left her mouth. She needed another coffee.

“Sorry,” he whispered as she left, and that was the last she remembered seeing him.

* * *

“We kept the window closed,” Alan Moore-Yamada was saying, half to himself. Ken was pacing about, fussing with the blankets on Jesse's bed as if straightening the sheets would wake him up faster. Truth be told, he wasn't quite sure how he had arrived at this point in the conversation after the the young woman with electric blue hair had opened with “Are you all right? Do you need to sit down?” when he'd stumbled and nearly fallen over her.

Alan was at that point in a crisis where he felt the need to vent his troubles to anyone who might stand still long enough to listen, and the young lady was so very polite. She listened and didn't press, even though it looked like she had dozens of questions. He was grateful for that. He could appreciate that.

“We kept the window closed,” Alan repeated. “We told Jesse not to touch it, that he couldn't afford a chill after Liza, but it was open this morning. Why would he do that? He's a good boy, he listens...” He shook his head. “We don't like him opening that window anyway, it's on the second floor with no screen... he could get hurt.” He sighed. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I know you didn't ask for this.”

“It's all right,” the woman assured him. “Did you just come in, too?”

“No,” he said distractedly, with an anguished look to the bed next to Jesse's. “Ken and I brought Liza in just yesterday. That was why we wanted the window shut, we thought that maybe... maybe we could avoid this.” He shook his head. “Jesse must have caught it from her. I-it makes sense, they're so close, they... we adopted them together, as a pair, and they were so _happy_. They weren't sure we would – who would be cruel enough to separate siblings?” He ran his hand through his hair. “We promised them they'd be happy, but this... we weren't expecting this. I just don't know what to do.”

“The hospital will figure out what's wrong,” Ken murmured, brushing a lock of hair out of Jesse's face.

“My friend suggested some kind of bite,” the young woman murmured. “Maybe a spider.”

“I didn't check,” Alan whispered. “I was so worried and distracted, I didn't even think to check.”

The conversation continued in the same vein, if it could be called a conversation. Aside from little sympathetic comments here and there, the young woman didn't say much. She was quiet and unobtrusive, a good listener. After his energy and breath for lamenting ran out, Alan barely even noticed her leave.

* * *

“How good is your control?” Mystery asked as he padded briskly down the clean white hallway.

“Holding up okay,” Lewis replied, nervously eying the nearest people. Both of them were invisible and out of earshot of anyone who might hear their voices, but dodging the unwary living still felt dicey to him. At the moment, his emotions were in check, and maintaining invisibility was relatively effortless. If he couldn't keep it that way, then this was all for nothing.

Mystery led the way. His physical form was just as invisible to Lewis as it was to everyone else, but his power shone like a beacon. Together, they crept through the more public areas of the hospital and found their way into office spaces with fewer prying eyes.

“Computers,” Lewis pointed out quietly. “That's what we're looking for, right?”

“Too exposed,” came Mystery's murmured reply. “Someone could walk by and spot something amiss. Come on – there are individual offices for higher-ranking doctors. We'll have a better chance for privacy there.”

Sure enough, they found an empty office and slipped inside. The lights were off, which gave Lewis hope that the office's owner – one Dr. Carla Gordon – was away and would not be returning that day. Cautiously he opened the door just wide enough to let Mystery in, and phased through it as it shut. No one was around to see.

There were security cameras inside. Mystery's eyes flashed, and the blinking red lights flickered. “That should do it.” The dog shed his invisibility and hopped up, first onto the chair, then onto the desk. A few presses of his paw had the computer booting up before him.

“What do you need me for?” Lewis kept his distance from the computer. He was nervous, though not enough for his powers to run haywire with the electronics in the room, but still it didn't hurt to be safe.

“Stay by the door,” Mystery replied. “Do you think you could manage a bit of Haunting?”

Lewis blinked. He wasn't sure how, but he could _hear_ the capitalization when Mystery said the word. “I thought we didn't want to attract attention,” he pointed out. “If I start messing with lights or rattling doors or making blood drip from the walls, people are going to notice.”

“Nothing so macabre,” Mystery assured him. “I just mean – you know how you can make people feel uneasy? Terrified, even, if you so choose?”

“Oh,” Lewis said quietly. “...That.”

“Nothing too extreme.” Mystery frowned at the screen and pushed the mouse around. “Just a bit of unease, that's all. Keep it going so that anyone who happens to pass by this door gets enough of a chill up their spine to keep them from coming in. Do you think you can manage that?”

Lewis complied, letting his power flow out and settle beyond the closed door like an invisible cloud. A nurse walked by, and Lewis saw her pick up her pace as she passed. “Haunting,” he said absently. “Is that what it's called?”

“Yes.” Mystery's claws clicked against the keyboard. “It's one of the three basic abilities of earthbound spirits. Haunting involves the manipulation of fear, which you're doing now. Fading is your invisibility. The third, as I understand it, is Dream Walking.”

“I can enter people's dreams?” Lewis asked, incredulous. “I... didn't know I could do that.”

“You already have, if I'm not mistaken,” Mystery informed him. “There was that whole mess with the mansion when we first found you. I know illusions when I see them. You created a very elaborate one – a waking dream, really. It faded when we left.”

“I wasn't sure what I was doing,” Lewis admitted. “I was just sort of... making things. First to lure Vivi in, then to... go after Arthur.”

The sound of typing paused, and Lewis glanced up to see Mystery looking at him. “I don't know if this will be a comfort to you,” Mystery said. “But if I'm correct and the mansion was an extension of your dream manipulation abilities, then there was no possibility of you hurting anyone with it, Arthur included.”

“I sure threw a lot of fire at him,” Lewis said.

“Oh, the fire was real.” Mystery turned back to the computer screen. “The house was not. I know, because one of your decorative knights took my head clean off my shoulders, and a new one popped right out of my neck like a daisy. That was when I was sure. It decapitated me, and yet it didn't. That's the thing about dream manipulation – it can do many things, but it cannot cause physical harm.”

Lewis gaped at him, speechless. It took Mystery a moment to glance up and notice.

“Something wrong?”

“I _decapitated you?_ ” Lewis's voice rose several octaves in pitch.

“No, you didn't. Weren't you listening?”

“ _How can you be so calm about that?_ ”

“I told you it wasn't real!”

“Still...” Lewis's voice trailed off. There was a new knot of unease in the pit of his stomach.

The typing continued as Mystery sighed. “Lewis... whatever your intentions, and whatever your actions, the end result is... well, _this_. Us. All of us, here, together, safe and sound. You did no harm. We move forward. We focus...” The typing ended with a satisfied clack. “...on saving your sister.”

Lewis looked up, letting hope creep in. “Did you find something?”

“List of afflicted children,” Mystery announced. “Dates, symptoms, information. Here.” Mystery pawed through the contents of the desk and found a notepad and pen. “You have thumbs – if you don't trust yourself close to the computer, just float those over and take down what I tell you.”

Lewis called both objects into his hands from across the room, then took down the information as Mystery read it to him. “This is... highly illegal,” he muttered. “Stealing patient information from a hospital, I mean.”

Mystery sighed. “Well, you're dead and I'm a dog. What are they going to do, jail the pair of us?”

“Probably unethical, too...”

“Good cause and all that,” Mystery said. “If we can use this information to help these children, then it will be worth it.”

After almost two pages of laborious note-taking, they were out of the office and in the clear. “That went well,” Mystery remarked under his breath, under the shield of invisibility once more. “Thank you for your assistance, Lewis.”

“Assistance nothing, Mystery, I'm the one with the sick sister. I should be thanking _you._ ”

“Hardly,” Mystery assured him. “Let's see if Arthur and Vivi are finished with their information-gathering. We can compare notes.”

“Actually...” Lewis paused, glancing at a nearby exit sign. “You go on. I have an idea.”

“What, pray tell?”

“We have a list of the home addresses for all the sick kids,” Lewis said. “They aren't too far off – I can pay at least some of them a visit to see if I can find handprints like we saw back home.”

“Good thinking.” Lewis couldn't see Mystery, but he could hear his approval. “I'll let the others know. Meet us by the van when you're finished. We'll find you if anything happens while you're away.”

Without another word, Lewis passed through the walls of the building and drifted away to hunt for signs of their quarry.

* * *

Lewis's presence vanished, and Mystery turned and continued on his path back to the children's ward. He took his time, remaining alert all the while. Invisibility was all well and good, but it wouldn't do to trip anyone. Besides, there was information to be gleaned from conversation. People tended to say quite a lot of useful things when they didn't know anyone was around to listen. Ears swiveling, he wove his way through doctors, nurses, cleaning staff, and other hospital employees, and let their casual conversations flow to him.

“Where's Dr. Calloway? Her patient's calling her again – yeah, the one with the weird mole.”

“-it happened again. Perfectly good yogurt, in the fridge, spoiled. It's the fifth time this week, why won't anyone fix that thing?”

“-almost slipped in puke, where's the janitor when you need him?”

“Hey, do you know if the maintenance guys are still here? The lights in the rec room are on the fritz again.”

“-finally off the clock, I'm grabbing a beer and going home-”

“I can't believe it! Can't believe it. I went to medical school, I got a Ph.D, I am a licensed medical professional and _I can't get rid of my own cold sore._ ”

Voices and discussions blended together, and Mystery mentally sifted through the jumble, picking out notes of importance like wheat from chaff. What formed in his mind was not so much a picture, but the beginnings of hints of an outline. Possibilities lined up in his mind's eye, arranged themselves from most to least probable, then most to least ideal, then most to least deadly.

An uncomfortable amount of them lay on the “considerable safety risk” end of the spectrum.

Mystery shook his head. Of course it wouldn't come to that. He would not allow that. If it came to danger or the unknown, there would be no splitting up, no secrets, no silence. They would come out of this safe and unharmed, and he would make sure of that. Besides, in all likelihood this was just some wayward phantom with a highly coincidental skill set, and...

His paws slowed. Mystery hesitated in the middle of the hallway, only to scurry to the side to keep from getting underfoot when a white-coated doctor hurried past. Recovering himself, he raised his muzzle and sniffed.

There was... something...

Something in the air. That peculiar tickle in his nose, that ran down the length of his spine until his white fur stood on end. It could only be magic.

But _what kind_ – that was the real question.

Magic in a hospital was quite the risk. In untrained hands, it could interfere with complex machinery. Ghosts bled it freely, especially when their emotions ran away with them; that was why Lewis was so cautious here. Even the smallest spiritual temper tantrum could black out an entire floor.

But this was not a bleed, no. This was barely even a trickle. This was more like... moisture left on the floor from a wet shoe print. It was not the presence of magic, but the evidence that there had been such a presence at some point.

There was barely enough to form a trail, but Mystery did his best to follow it all the same. He padded this way and that, searching for traces. It was little use; they were tiny and scattered, and it was impossible to tell when they had been left, or from whom or what. Still, he patrolled the hallways doggedly, even venturing to the upper floor to see if it was stronger there. No luck. He lost track of time, and finally gave up when it occurred to him that Vivi and Arthur were probably wondering where he was.

Frustrated, he abandoned the search and made his way back to the children's ward. He forced himself to walk in spite of his impatience; if he ran, the scrape of his claws on the floor tiles might attract attention.

He found Vivi sitting in the hallway just outside the children's ward, hunched over with her head in her hands. Her fingers were tangled in her hair, and she was staring down at the floor between her feet. As Mystery approached, Arthur emerged from the ward and noticed her. With a sigh, he made his way over and sank down into the chair beside hers.

“You all right?”

“Yeah, yeah, just-” Briefly Vivi massaged her forehead with her palms and sat up to lean against the wall behind her. “Little bit drained. Emotionally. You find anything out?” Mystery seated himself right by her chair and waited for them to confer.

“Maybe. I feel like there's a pattern I'm missing, but I'm not sure. Sometimes two new families show up in a day, sometimes just one, but never more than that. Sometimes it comes out of nowhere, sometimes there are nightmares and weird noises first. You?”

“I've been hearing the same,” she admitted. “It's confusing right now and I'm getting a headache trying to organize it all in my head. I wrote down what I could.”

“Same. Had to be sneaky about it, though, or people would start side-eying me.” Arthur rubbed his forehead tiredly. “Hopefully Mystery and Lewis are having better luck on their end.”

Seeing his opportunity, Mystery decided to make his presence known. “That remains to be seen,” he spoke up, startling the pair of them. “Got some information off of a hospital computer. Lewis wrote it down – we can consolidate our findings when he gets back.”

“Where'd he go?” Arthur asked softly.

“He's paying a visit to each house,” Mystery replied. “To look for the mark that we found by Paprika and Cayenne's window. He'll meet us by the van.”

“Let's head out, then,” Vivi murmured. “When Lewis gets back, we can put together everything we've learned and see if we can figure out what we're up against.”

* * *

Lewis returned to the van not long after they did. Arthur spotted him first, materializing – literally – in the hospital parking lot with his human appearance in place. Arthur waved him over, and Lewis joined them in the spacious back of the van.

“Here's what Mystery got from the computers,” Lewis said, spreading the two sheets of paper on the floor. The others gathered around. “Twelve children in all, including Paprika. I visited each address, had a look around. Took a while, but... it's there.” He traced his finger down the list. “Every one of these addresses had the mark.”

“There's our confirmation,” Vivi murmured. “All these cases are connected.”

“Here's the thing though,” Lewis went on. “I noticed something kind of weird. It might be nothing, but I went back to double-check – that's what took me so long – and it was sort of consistent.”

“And that was?” Arthur prompted.

“Remember how we found the mark on the outside of the house?” Lewis went on. “Right by the window? Well, it was sort of similar at these four other addresses – the ones I marked with an O. The marks were on the outside of the house. Next to the window, or above it, or on the outer windowsill.”

Arthur frowned down at the list. “And these I's?”

“Inside the bedrooms,” Lewis told them. “Again, usually by the window. The sill, or the wall, or... the bedpost.” A shudder ran through the ghost's form. “Ten different houses. Five inside, five outside. Seemed like a pattern to me, so I thought it was worth mentioning.”

“No, you're right,” Vivi said thoughtfully. “That's exactly half. Weird...”

“Okay, then how about the children themselves?” Arthur spoke up. “If we want to find patterns, that's probably the place to look. Me and Vivi figured out it was one or two victims a day, but-”

“Two,” Mystery and Lewis said in unison.

“Huh?”

“Two a day,” Mystery said. “At least according to these dates. Since this started on Monday, two sick children have been admitted per day. Twelve in all, as Lewis said.”

“Wait, but everybody we talked to said it was either one or two,” Arthur said.

Vivi furrowed her brow, then let out an “Oh!” and nudged his arm. “One or two _new families_ , Arthur. Didn't those two guys you talked to have two kids?”

“Oh right, right! I didn't think of that.” Arthur took out his small notebook and flipped to the right page. “Let's go through them, then. Start on Monday.”

“Dana Rawlins,” Lewis said. “Eight years old. Mark was on the outside. Kenneth Torrance, six years old, mark was on the inside.”

“I talked to the Rawlins girl's dad,” Arthur said. “He couldn't remember a whole lot about it. I don't think he noticed anything out of the ordinary.”

“Mrs. Torrance said something about her son having nightmares, but that's about it,” Vivi said. “Oh, and the window was open. That was another detail I heard a lot – open versus closed windows.”

“I'll mark it down,” Lewis said. “At this point we shouldn't rule anything out.”

It went on in a similar vein. Tuesday: Tyler Nguyen and Isabel Richardson. Wednesday: Daniel Ford and Tracey Liang. And then on Thursday–

“Todd Liang and Gabriel Vasquez,” Lewis said. “The Liang family was already at the hospital since the day before.”

“So the only new family was Gabriel's,” Vivi murmured. Mystery had got up to pace as they went over their information, though the dog had yet to say anything or contribute to the discussion.

“I talked to the Vasquez parents,” Arthur said. “They said they didn't have any other kids.”

“And the Liangs had only two,” Vivi added.

“Makes sense that the next day had two new families come in, then,” Lewis said, looking at the list. It was now filled with scribbled notes after his attempts to consolidate all their information. “Liza Moore-Yamada and Janice Park. That was yesterday.”

“And then Liza's brother Jesse came in today,” Vivi said. “Along with Paprika. So... there _are_ patterns, right? Two kids per day, consistently. Half the houses have marks on the inside, the other half on the outside, and... let me see that.” She slid the papers closer. “Looks like there might be an even split between open and unopened windows, too, but that's a maybe because not everyone mentioned it either way. And... most of the open-window families reported things like nightmares and trouble sleeping, but...”

“Did any of these single kids have siblings at all?” Arthur asked. “Because I don't think they did. The Nguyen kid didn't, and neither did Rawlins.”

“Yeah, all the visitors were parents and guardians,” Vivi said. “The only kids who were visiting were Cayenne and Belle. Whatever this is...” She shot a worried look at Lewis.

The look on his face told her that he had reached the same conclusion. “It spreads to siblings.”

Mystery sat down with an audible thump.

The three of them looked over to find Mystery staring into the middle distance with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“I thought... no, it couldn't be...” Mystery murmured. “But it _has_ to be. But... the timing, the numbers, it has to be impossible!” He got up again, shaking his head until the glasses nearly flew from his muzzle. “There are too many victims! Twice as many as... as should even be _possible._ ”

In Arthur's mind, something clicked. “Twice as many.”

Vivi looked at him. “What?”

“Twice as many, that's it!” Arthur jabbed his metal finger at the page. “That's why the pattern's so hard to see! Why there are so many disconnects, why two kids come in per day. It's not that this thing is inconsistent – there are _two_ of them!”

“And that shouldn't be possible!” Mystery's hackles rose, but he looked more agitated than angry. “These things don't work together – _can't_ work together! It's against their nature!”

“Against what's nature?” Vivi asked. “Mystery, do you know what's causing this?”

“I knew before we returned to the hospital, but like a fool I dismissed it because I thought it impossible. Because I didn't have all the pieces. But now I do.” Mystery scowled, his red eyes flashing with revulsion. “It's a shtriga. Heaven help these children, it's _two_ of the bedamned things.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

“Shtriga?” Vivi echoed.

Arthur blinked. “Gesundheit.”

Lewis, in the meantime, was watching Mystery with rapt attention. His hair flickered, the edges melting into purple flames. “How do we stop it?”

“How about let's start with 'what is it?'” Vivi broke in.

“It's a loathsome, vile thing,” Mystery replied. His voice rumbled with the beginnings of a growl. “You'll hear about them in Albanian folklore, but they can be found all over the world. As for what they are, they're... difficult to classify. A shtriga lies somewhere between a vampire and a witch, with the worst qualities of both. Powerful, slippery, quick and strong and versatile, and... difficult to kill. They're like _roaches_.” Mystery returned to pacing. “I had an inkling when I heard of what ailed Paprika – sudden illness and a comatose state. The shtriga consume _Spiritus Vitae_ – the life force. One might even say the soul. It's why they rot whatever they touch. Anyone is a potential victim, but _children_ , oh, the life force of children is a powerful thing. Vulnerable, too, with children as sensitive as they are.”

Lewis's eyes flashed. “If you had an 'inkling', then why didn't you say anything?”

“Because it didn't add up!” Mystery stamped his front paw in frustration. “Vivi gave a rough estimate of the numbers before we found specifics, and it _didn't make sense_. The shtriga are powerful and nigh-invulnerable, but they have limits! And one of those limits is that they can only feed on one child per night!” He shook his head, his ears turned back. “And it didn't occur to me that there might be more than one of the things hunting in the same area because _that never happens._ ”

“Why not?” Vivi asked.

“Two things that shtriga are not very good at,” Mystery said grimly. “Dying and sharing. They're effectively supernatural apex predators, and most top-tier predators don't do well in close quarters.” He pawed their note pages. “The distribution of these addresses... there's no separation. They intermingle. Their hunting grounds are overlapped, and that worries me.”

“Okay, is anyone else really worried about how he keeps going back to how hard it is to kill these things?” Arthur spoke up. “Because I'm pretty sure that's the important part here.”

“Do we have to kill them?” Vivi asked.

“We have little choice,” Mystery said grimly. “If we do, then and only then will the power they stole be returned to their victims.” He turned to Lewis, eyes solemn. “If we don't, then we leave their victims with not enough life force to survive, much less wake up. If these shtriga don't die, then every one of those children will.”

Lewis's human appearance vanished. Purple light blazed in his eye sockets, and the flames around his skull flickered and danced like a torch. He said nothing.

“So where do we start?” Arthur asked. “ _Can_ they be killed?”

“Oh, everything can be killed,” Mystery said. “With shtriga, it's a matter of catching them at the right moment. There is... well...” He hesitated, frowning.

“What?” Lewis asked sharply. “What is it?”

“We've caught them later then I would like,” Mystery said in a tight voice. “Shtriga... perhaps cicadas would be more apt than cockroaches. They emerge from hiding once in a great, great while, and they feed. One child per night until they are satisfied. And then they lie dormant and in hiding for years until they emerge again. They are weaker when they first awaken, hungry after a years-long fast. Another reason why sleeping children are their preferred prey.” He pawed the floor of the van. “But now they've fed, on six children each. They'll be stronger.”

“Not strong enough,” Lewis growled.

“I certainly hope not,” Mystery said. “Because the 'desperate measures' option does _not_ bear thinking about.”

“What's the desperate measures option?” Vivi asked.

“Something that doesn't bear thinking about,” Mystery told her flatly. “May we focus on the task at hand? Time is of the essence; we only have so much of it before the shtriga sate their hunger and vanish, and then we have no chance of saving these children at all.”

“Okay, so, with what you know about shtrigas, why do you think these two would be working together?” Arthur asked. “Do they, like, mate or something? Could this be a mom shtriga teaching a baby shtriga how to hunt?”

Mystery shook his head, his snout crumpling with revulsion. “Creatures like this don't tend to have life cycles the way we understand them and also _please_ never put that image in my head ever again.” He shuddered. “Shtriga are not born; they become what they are, and childbearing is impossible for them.”

“Also,” Vivi said slowly. “I'm not sure they _are_ working together.”

“How do you figure?” Mystery asked.

Her finger traced over their notes. “Well... these discrepancies. Marks inside versus marks outside, windows open versus closed, nightmares and strange noises before the sickness versus no warning at all.” Vivi tapped the page lightly. “There are some holes, but I'm pretty sure it's consistent in how it's separated. Five of these families – Rawlins, Nguyen, Liang, Park, and Lewis's – had marks outside, windows closed, and no advance warning. These other five had marks inside, windows open, and nightmares and stuff before the kids got sick. There's no crisscrossing. Even with the families with multiple siblings, it's consistent. They may be hunting in the same area, but not the same houses. They don't... share their food.”

Mystery's paws kneaded the floor. “Well, it... it stands to reason...”

When the dog's voice trailed off, Lewis pounced on the thread. “What?” he pressed. “What were you going to say? What else is there?”

The dog refused to look at him. “They're getting bolder, see? They started with small families, single children, and then they attacked sibling pairs, and now...” His voice trailed off, and Lewis's eyes shrank to pinpricks in his sockets.

“They hunt through siblings,” Arthur finished for him, his voice hushed with dawning horror. “It's going after Cayenne and Belle next.”

“It is **not.** ” Vivi and Arthur cringed when Lewis's voice boomed like rolling thunder in the small space. “ **If it so much as looks at them, I'll tear it to pieces and burn what's left.** ”

“Yes, yes, we know!” Mystery barked, pitching his voice above the reverberations. “But now is not the time to lose our tempers, Lewis! Whether it's collaboration or merely tolerance, the fact remains that the behavior of these creatures is unusual – unheard of, even. Which means we may still be missing something. Now.” He looked meaningfully toward the sky. “We have lost most of the day just to get this far, and it will be dark soon. Which means there are two attacks set to occur sometime during the night. Ideally we end this as soon as possible.”

“Well... at least we know where one of them's going to be,” Arthur said. “We could probably catch it if we stake out Lewis's house.”

“The Moore-Yamada kids don't have any more siblings, though,” Vivi pointed out. “The other shtriga could be anywhere.”

“Not if I track it,” Mystery said. “There may still be a trail to pick up at the house of its previous victims.”

“Are we splitting up?” Arthur asked, running his fingers over his metal wrist. “Because it sounds an awful lot like we're splitting up.”

“Artie, it'll be fine,” Vivi assured him.

“Actually...” Mystery said awkwardly. “I'm inclined to agree with Arthur. We haven't had the best luck with splitting up.”

“Do we have a choice?” Lewis asked. He had drifted away from the others, tucking himself into the corner of the back of the van, right behind the driver's side backseat. His form flickered ominously, as if he was using all of his self control just to stay stable. “I think we lost that luxury when we realized there were two of these things.” He looked at Mystery. “You said you might be able to pick up a trail at the Moore-Yamadas' house. If you don't follow it, it'll be cold by tomorrow, and there will be a new victim whose address we _won't_ know unless we risk sneaking into an office again. But if we all go after it, then the one that hurt Paprika can attack Cayenne or Belle.” He scowled darkly. “If we don't split up, then we have a choice between losing the trail on one shtriga, or letting the other put one of my sisters in a coma.”

“Heads they win, tails we lose,” Vivi murmured. “Arthur?”

“This is a bad idea.” Arthur's eyes were so wide they were almost round. “This is a very, very bad idea but you're right and the alternative is worse.” His hand shook a little as he ran it through his hair. “I don't like it at all, but... we're kinda low on options.”

“So how do we play this?” Vivi asked.

Someone knocked on the side of the van. Arthur started like a rabbit, impulsively seizing Vivi's sleeve.

“Arthur? Vivi?” Mrs. Pepper stepped around to the back and peered in through the open doors. “Are you two still here?”

Arthur shot a quick look to where Lewis had been sitting, and found empty air. “Uh...”

With a sigh, Lewis's mother sat at the edge of the van and petted Mystery when he wriggled closer. “Thank you,” she said. “We appreciate how much support you've shown us, but... really, you don't have to stay.”

“Actually, we do,” Vivi said quietly. Arthur caught her eye with a quick glance, and she gave him an almost imperceptible nod. “Are you going home now?”

Mrs. Pepper shook her head. “I planned to, but Cayenne won't hear of it. We'll be staying the night at the hospital.”

Another quick glance passed between the two of them. Vivi took a deep breath, steeling herself. “Could we borrow a house key from you?”

Mrs. Pepper raised an eyebrow at her.

“It's... we think we know what happened,” Vivi went on, trying not to cringe. Mrs. Pepper blinked in surprise but did not interrupt her, so she went on with no small amount of trepidation. “What... did this to Paprika. We believe it's supernatural in origin – and yes, we know how that sounds, but...” She forced herself to maintain steady eye contact. “There's an evil spirit out there doing this to kids, and we think we can stop it.”

Lewis's mother stared at her, her face utterly unreadable. For a frightening moment it looked as if she might be angry, but in the next her eyes shut, and she sighed with faint resignation and... annoyance? “It's been a long day,” she said tartly. “And I am... _not_ in the right mindset to have this conversation. Here.” Reaching into her pocket, she fished out her keys, worked one of them off the ring, and handed it to Vivi. “Do... whatever it is you feel you need to do. If you'll excuse me, I'm going back to my family.” Brusquely she stood up and stalked away, leaving Vivi and Arthur staring after her speechlessly.

“Well,” Arthur said when she was gone. “I know humoring when I see it.”

“Be glad she's doing that much,” Vivi murmured, pocketing the key. The abruptness in Mrs. Pepper's manner stung. “She must think we're being stupid in the middle of her family's crisis.”

“Should I have said something?” Mystery asked. “Would that have helped?”

“Maybe... it's better this way.” Lewis's voice drew their attention back to the corner where he'd retreated. He was sitting exactly where he had been before; he must have turned invisible when his mother arrived, rather than leaving the van outright. “She doesn't know how dangerous this is. None of them do. Isn't it better if we just... take care of this ourselves, without involving any of them?”

“Like it or not, they are involved already,” Mystery reminded him. “And while I would normally advise discretion, in this case I feel that coddling them would be a disservice.”

“Well _that's_ a one-eighty from your usual stance,” Lewis said, with a somewhat acidic tone.

“Yeah, Mystery...” Vivi said softly. ““Aren't you the one who says to keep this stuff on the down-low because people are panicky and dangerous when they're confronted with the unknown?”

“Yes, and I stand by that,” Mystery replied. “In my experience, people – frightened people in particular – can be unpredictable at best and a liability at worst.” His eyes softened. “A _person_ , now, that's a different story, isn't it? Especially a person that we know well.” He stood up and padded to the edge of the van, right by the open doors. “I think we will regret it if we keep this from them.”

“But if it's to keep them safe-” Lewis began.

“I kept my nature a secret from you to keep you safe,” Mystery said bluntly. “And then I stayed silent about your fate to keep _them_ safe.I was wrong on both counts. Ignorance is bliss, not safety. Safety lies in preparedness.”

“It's a little late for that now,” Arthur pointed out. “She already stormed off.”

“Tomorrow, then,” Vivi decided. “However this turns out tonight, we tell them tomorrow. Full disclosure. Er...” She shot Lewis a quick glance. “Full disclosure about the shtriga, anyway. Okay, Lewis?”

His mouth twisted, but he nodded. “Baby steps,” he agreed at length.

“So what's our next move?” Arthur asked.

Vivi's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, and she tapped a pen against her chin. “Mystery's the only one who can track the other shtriga. The rest of us would probably only slow him down. Mystery, think you can handle that yourself?”

“Will the rest of you be all right without me?”

“We should be fine,” Vivi assured him. “We'll stake out the girls' room, see if we can catch the thing when it comes looking for Cayenne. What's the best weapon against it?”

“According to legend, no weapon made by God or Man can kill a shtriga,” Mystery replied. “Luckily, Lewis and I are neither, and in spite of advertisement, it's my understanding that consecrated iron works.”

“Consecrated iron, got it.” Scrambling up, Vivi went to their haphazardly organized supplies and rummaged through boxes. “Knives are probably ideal. Mrs. Pepper won't thank us for putting bullet holes in her daughters' bedroom wall. Between that and Lewis's ghost powers, we should be okay.”

“Wait,” Arthur broke in. “Wait, wait, wait a minute. What about Cayenne and Belle?”

“Didn't you hear her?” Vivi reminded him. “They're staying at the hospital for the night. While we take care of this, they're safe.”

“Uh... yeah...” Arthur fidgeted a little. “Are they, though? I mean... do we really know that the shtriga's going back to the house? We're assuming that this thing has no idea what's going on during the day, but what if it just follows them?”

Vivi stared at him for a moment, then let her forehead drop into her palm. “Damn it.”

Arthur heaved a sigh. “We're gonna have to split up further, aren't we?”

“If one of us stays at the hospital, that might raise some eyebrows,” Vivi said. “We're not family, and it probably doesn't help that Mrs. Pepper just left us in a not-so-good mood.”

An uncertain silence followed. Lewis broke it when he got up from his corner.. “Not of it's me.”

“Are you sure-” Vivi began.

“Mom's mad at you and I don't think Arthur wants to spend the night staying up alone in a dark hospital,” Lewis said flatly. “Besides, it'll be easier for you two to keep each other awake, and I don't need to sleep in the first place.” He looked away. “It's not like I was wild about leaving them alone tonight anyway.”

Vivi blinked at him, momentarily tongue-tied, and it was Arthur who stepped forward and touched Lewis's shoulder. “You sure you're gonna be okay on your own?”

“I'll be fine,” Lewis assured them. “And if the shtriga does show up, well... it's not _my_ safety you should be worried about.” He turned to look Arthur in the eye. “Are _you_ okay?”

“I'm...” Arthur bit his lip. “I'm scared. But y'know, that's nothing new. And... this is your _family_ , Lewis. Your family, plus a whole lot of innocent kids. We'll do whatever we gotta do.”

He only managed a surprised grunt when Lewis pulled him into a tight hug.

Embracing a ghost was a strange experience. It felt solid, strong – even warm sometimes – but there was an airiness to it, like wrapping one's arms around a shadow given physical form. Lewis was strong, practically crackling with the power that ran deep inside him. Surrounded by that feeling, even if only for a few moments, Arthur felt his fears recede. He felt _safe_.

Vivi joined the hug, and Mystery pressed himself to their legs as she spoke in a voice muffled against Lewis's shoulder. “We'll beat them,” she said fiercely. “We can do this. I know we can.”

Lewis's arms tightened around them once more before he let go. The gratitude that shone on his face was too great to put into words, so he simply nodded to them and vanished.

“I must be off,” Mystery said quietly, with a meaningful glance toward the spreading dark. “Good luck, both of you. Protect each other.” With that, he sprang out of the van and raced out of sight. In the distance, they glimpsed a rangy wolflike form with many waving tails.

“Just you and me now,” Vivi breathed. “C'mon, Artie. Time for a stakeout.”

* * *

Mystery picked up the scent just outside of the Moore-Yamada house. It was easy enough; the house was only one story, and the children's bedroom was easily accessible. Not a drop of magic was needed with the window shut but not locked.

Magic varied widely between individuals, and so too did its particular feel and scent. According to various acquaintances over the centuries, Mystery's own power was quiet and subdued, like the sound of rain or the glow of distant stars, easy to lose track of in the company of louder magic. Someone once likened it to the way the air smelled before a storm. It made hiding easy.

The magic that Mystery encountered was more of an itch. Something about it felt familiar, but he was far too focused on finding a substantial trail to puzzle out his deja vu. The feel of it made him want to roll and scratch, like dust or fleas under his coat.

It led him back out into the yard. He circled the house once before picking up the trail and racing off into the streets, tails streaming behind him.

There was little chance of him being spotted, even racing through the darkening streets in his true form. He knew well enough how to get around without passing by too many unsuspecting humans, and if he could not, his magic settled about him like a protective cloak. Not invisibility – that would take too much power and focus when he was trying to simultaneously follow a scent and ready himself for a fight. This spell was similar to the ghostly ability of Fading.

Fading was like invisibility in the same way that hypnosis was like mind control; namely, it really wasn't, in spite of popular belief. A ghost's ability to Fade was not the power to go unseen; it was the power to go unnoticed. Most humans were capable of looking straight at something and not realizing it was there. Fading, and Mystery's current cloaking spell, simply enhanced that shortcoming. The human mind was a slippery thing; one could walk into a room, see everything that was in it, and promptly forget every detail they didn't find important. With a proper Fading in place, a human could look a spirit straight in the eye, and simply not notice it because they were far too preoccupied with searching for their keys.

The same could be done with a centuries-old kitsune the size of a small horse.

The trail led Mystery on an easy lope through neighborhoods and small collections of businesses. He lost it, and found it, and lost it again, back and forth until he found himself heading past an empty park. The sky over head was blue-black. It must have been nine at the very earliest.

Mystery paused on a street corner and kneaded the pavement with his front paws. As skilled a tracker as he was, there was really very little he could do until the shtriga chose a target. The blighted thing could hide all night until it decided to slither out and feed. His fur bristled at the thought.

He hoped that Vivi and Arthur could keep each other safe. The last time he had left two of his friends alone on a case...

 _No_. He shook himself. _This is no mysterious cave with twists and turns, and we are not blissfully ignorant explorers with no clues beyond vague instincts and chills up our spines. This is home, and we know exactly what is waiting for us around the corner._

Mystery patrolled the scent trails for another hour or so, ears pricked, nose in the air. Finally it took him to a quieter neighborhood, all dark windows and silent houses, with not even a late-night dog-walker stirring.

His ears swiveled this way and that, and his eyes glinted. The scent here was fresh.

With a flick of his tails, he followed the recent trail further into the neighborhood, up and down the streets, until it brought him to a small cul-de-sac. The street was not from any of the addresses on their list; the shtriga had not hunted here yet. If Mystery had anything to say about it, it would not hunt again after tonight.

He spotted it at a small one-story house within the cul-de-sac. He was late; it was emerging from the window, not going in. The child inside was most likely comatose already.

No matter. That would soon be fixed.

Mystery struck the shtriga broadside, his snarl muffled when he closed its teeth around the general vicinity of its shoulder. Dropping his cloaking spell, he poured all of his magic into his fangs. The shtriga gave a hideous shriek, twisting in his grip, and he bit harder. Just a little longer, and the foul thing would be dead.

Something hit him from behind.

Later, Mystery could not be sure what happened. One moment the shtriga was in his grasp, and the next there were teeth meeting in his flank. Something grunted and snorted behind him, but with the shtriga's cloak in and around his mouth, he couldn't smell it. He kicked at it with his other hind leg, claws catching on something like rough skin. The teeth bit harder, and he tried to keep his hold – he truly tried. But his own fangs loosened as he forcibly suppressed a yelp of pain. The shtriga wrenched itself free.

“No!” Mystery kicked viciously at whatever was biting him until it let go, and he desperately gave chase. Without the shtriga's foul taste clogging his senses, his nose was filled with the coppery scent of blood. The ragged, fluttering cloak of the shtriga was barely visible in the dark as he struggled to catch up.

On three legs, he had no chance. Within eight blocks, the creature had lost him.

Mystery's claws scored deep grooves in the pavement, and he snarled his way through two thirds of the profanity in his vocabulary. Turning, he limped as rapidly as he could back to the house that the shtriga had attacked. Of course, there was next to no sign of whatever had helped the thing escape. The only indication that anything had been there at all was a small spatter of blood on the asphalt.

Carefully he bent down to sniff it, and his blood ran cold. Some of that blood was his. Not all of it, though.

He cast one last agonized look at the dark, silent house. In perhaps eight hours or so, the family would wake up and find their child unconscious, and the hospital ward would have one more patient. There was nothing more he could do here.

One thing was clear, however – the shtriga were not the only dangerous creatures roaming the night. Wincing, Mystery settled his cloaking spell back into place and started limping again, in the direction of the Peppers' home. The very least he could do was protect his friends.

* * *

Cayenne Pepper woke with a raging thirst.

For about two seconds she had no idea where she was, until she remembered the hospital. Paprika. The cot she was currently sharing with Belle.

Hospitals had drinking fountains, didn't they?

She was still in her clothes from yesterday. Mom was usually a stickler about putting on pajamas and getting ready for bed properly, but they had more important things to worry about. That was fine; Cayenne might have felt awkward walking around barefoot in pajama pants. Groggily, she wriggled out from under the blankets and slipped off the cot without waking Belle. Her sister could sleep like a rock sometimes.

Cayenne paused. On an impulse, she leaned over and poked Belle's shoulder. Belle didn't wake up, but she muttered a protest in her sleep and rolled over.

Not sick, then. Good.

Leaving her boots where they were, Cayenne tiptoed away from the cot on stockinged feet, past her sleeping parents, and out into the hallway. It was dark and quiet – nurses would only come if you called them – so that the patients could sleep or something.

As if sleep was the problem.

The water fountain wasn't too far down the hall. With a sigh of relief, she went to it and took a long, deep drink, eyelids drifting shut. Straightening, Cayenne stepped back and wiped her mouth.

It hovered to the right of her, big and dark with a ragged cloak, just the way she remembered it.

Cayenne opened her mouth and drew in a breath to scream, but fingers around her neck stopped her. They were thin but strong, stronger than fingers that spindly had any business being, and they were so cold it almost burned.

She didn't remember falling. One moment she was standing frozen in the dim hallway, and the next the chilly floor was pressing painfully against her shoulder blades. Above her, the cloaked thing hovered and pinned her and never, not once, made a noise. She couldn't see all of its face in the dark, but what she could see and smell made her sick to her stomach.

The monster's mouth opened. Hers already was; she hadn't closed it even after failing to scream. Light shone from the open throat, and Cayenne breathed out and kept breathing out even after her lungs should have been empty. Terror pounded in her veins, but she couldn't move. Her mind went fuzzy, her vision blurry, and all she could see was the ugly pale glow from the monster's wide-open mouth. She was tired. Was she falling asleep? How could she sleep when she was so scared?

And then the light vanished. The fingers at her throat loosened, and something wrenched the monster off of her. Cayenne rolled onto her side and covered her head, curling up into as small a ball as she could manage. Its icy hand grasped and groped at her, but something dragged it away. Through the haze of her tired mind, she could hear it hissing and growling. She opened her eyes just a crack, peeked out from under her arm, and saw through a haze of frightened tears. There were two things now – something dark cringing and struggling with something that glowed, of all things, bright purple. She tried to make sense of what she was seeing, but her head was swimming and it was getting harder and harder to stay awake, or to tell if she was even awake at all.

The hissing faded, and the purple glow died, and Cayenne's heavy eyelids drifted shut again. She lay on the cold floor, too exhausted and foggy to get up, or to think about anything other than lying still and breathing.

She heard no footsteps, no rustling of clothes, but suddenly there was someone or something right over her. Was the monster back? She couldn't have fought it or run from it even if it had been. Cayenne lay still, eyes shut, waiting.

Arms gathered her up, lifting her away from the chilly tiles. Cayenne struggled, if you could call it that – it was more like feeble squirming and a tiny, frightened whimper.

“ _Shhh..._ ” It was like a whisper of wind, and Cayenne realized that these weren't cold, hard hands grabbing and clutching her. These were warm arms cradling her, strong but gentle and safe. It was nothing less than a hug, and if Cayenne had been more awake and aware of things, she might have realized how familiar a hug it was.

The arms lowered her down again, but instead of the floor beneath her she felt the cushion of the cot and the pillow beneath her head. She shivered, groping for the blanket, and it was pulled up to her chin and tucked warmly around her.

Sleep was overtaking her again. She fought it weakly, part of her afraid that she might not wake up again if she fell asleep now.

She was right on the edge, drifting between the two worlds, when someone brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. The last drops of fear fled from her then, and she welcomed sleep with a faint smile on her lips.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All in all, Vivi and Arthur have a pretty quiet night.


End file.
